This invention relates to wall coverings and particularly to wall coverings using elongated siding members such as employed in metal siding and plastic siding.
One problem encountered with this type of siding is the manner in which the lowermost siding member is secured to the wall. It is necessary to shim out the bottom edge of the bottom siding member with a piece of lath which is secured to the wall being sided. Furthermore, once the lath has been installed, it is necessary to secure a bottom strip to the lath which engages the bottom edge of the siding member to hold the bottom edge in place.
Several problems have been encountered with the present means for securing the bottom siding member. After the siding has been installed, the house or building upon which it is installed continues to expand and contract and also to settle and move with the passage of time and with changes in the weather. This expansion and contraction and moving causes a slight shifting in the siding members which are secured to the outside of the wall. The result is that the lower edge of the siding member moves upwardly and downwardly irregularly and often becomes detached from the bottom strip which is used to hold the bottom edge of the siding in place. Once the bottom siding member has become detached, there is no simple way to reattach it to the wall without removing and replacing a large portion of the siding.
Another problem encountered with present siding structure is the difficulty encountered in trying to line up the bottom strip with the bottom edge of the siding. Present methods make it difficult to provide a straight horizontal line around the bottom edge of the siding with the siding strips.